If you are unaware of the vastly used strategy of today which is known as SEO or Search Engine Optimization – not to worry as we have got you covered! We are going to update you on the who, what, where, when, why, and most importantly the how to make sure you have everything you need to know about SEO! 

By now you must be familiar with the practice of improving the quality and quantity of the traffic your brand is potentially exposed to and how to make sure you pop up in organic search results smoothly. This process of optimizing web pages and their content effortlessly and effectively enough to make them easily discovered by users is what you call SEO. It refers to the subtle yet efficient usage of relevant keywords and also happens to be the only marketing channel that benefits you in the long run. 

There are three types of SEO activities to keep in mind: 

• On-Page SEO
• Off-Page SEO
• Technical SEO

An SEO Strategy revolves around organizing web content in a topical manner, which will assist search engines such as Google to understand the intent while searching up your website or keywords related to it. 

However, your SEO Strategy for business must reflect if not all then at least some of the latest trends as Google tends to update and improve its search results rather frequently based on the intent of the user. 

Here we have summarized a few pointers you might want to remember while outlining the strategies according to your business in 2021 and stay ahead of the game!

User Experience (UX) is Here to Stay

When you hear ‘User Experience’ brought up anywhere, the first thing you can think about is People! Everyone knows the basics; improving the experience for people since they reach our page down to the last minute with us – this is without a doubt UX 101! With that being said, if you wish to have a more prominent impact on the search engine results, the only answer to that is to have a good UX. 

What You Need to Focus on for Best Results with UX

If done correctly, the results will be fruitful for your website as it will be quite rewarding in the SEO department for keeping the user experience as a top priority. 

Google Search Console makes this a complete walk in the park with a dedicated Core Web Vitals report that you can view to get an idea of where your pages stand in a UX perspective. It allows you to see where you stand against Google’s UX ranking signals while you keep an eye on how to keep on improving to be the best on the list! 

It is important to know where to start and what to focus on. Start here. 

Your website should be:

• Fast. Imagine lightning fast. The kind of fast where the time of interactivity is barely noticeable. 

• No full-screen pop-ups please. Marketers love using pop-ups to expand reach, promote things creatively, or just reel in more users with a newsletter subscription offer. Whereas users can’t stand them and mostly close them before giving it a chance to even load properly.

• Responsive and Mobile-friendly. No one likes a slow, heavy, and unresponsive page in today’s day where everything is done with the snap of their fingers. This makes it essential to have a fully responsive page across all devices and platforms such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. Along with iOS, Android, and Windows compatibility. 

Semantic Search takes the Lead

The theme of 2021 is officially declared as ‘People come first’. This means people, and how they search up things is what will be the center of attention for SEO trends. 

So what is Semantics? It happens to be the study of words and their relationships, and also includes what those relationships mean in various yet specific contexts. 

Sounds to be a little too perfect for Google. At the end of the day, digging through the never-ending abyss of data to pull up the best results based on a user’s query is the main job of a search engine, no? So for search engines, ‘Semantic Search’ is how search engines use the data given at hand to determine the intent, context, and meaning in order to show the most relevant and accurate content possible. 

What to focus on in Semantic Search 

• Focus on creating content that you think could answer the questions your targeted market may ask.

• Develop content that is people-friendly, and not a search engine driven so that it is easily comprehended.

• Structure your data sensibly.

• Try to optimize your content for topics and not keywords.

The Ever-Lasting Impact of COVID-19

When COVID-19 began to unfold in March 2020, Google decided to up its algorithm game with some pretty strong new signals. For example, the company took a precautionary measure as they quickly stopped new Google reviews for businesses to protect them and ease the burden for a brief period. 

While many changes made were flexible and could be altered at any point and are definitely going to play a bigger part in the longer run, it seems like Google is ready to shape its results in response to global issues.

What should you focus on in a post-COVID-19 world?

In all hopes that nothing even remotely similar to this episode is to reoccur, but as marketers we need to mark some guide rails as we plan to take on the coming decade with full force. 

The first thing we need to focus on is the uncertainty for now, and how we can learn from a few mistakes made in the past and alter our online presence accordingly. 

Here are a few recommendations:

• Must develop a crisis communication strategy to enable content on an urgent basis. 

• Prepare yourself to be quick to update your web properties to accomodate any situation.

• Always think about how you can help and contribute to the situation.

High-Quality Content is still in for the Win! 

Where most that we once knew will be forever lost in 2021, “Content is King” will surely not be one of them! As much as marketers love throwing this phrase around like confetti, most people are unfamiliar with the true meaning behind it. First thing’s first, it stands as a reminder that “EAT” – expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness for any business. 

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the lockdown measures, coronavirus has become a hot topic that happens to be a new point of interest. 

What to do about the quality of content 

Consider it officially time to develop content that dances delicately around the information people need and are in search for. The emphasis should be on the quality of the content as 2021 is the time to get a robust content marketing strategy in place and ready to go! 

Here’s where to start:

• Create buyer personas

• Build your content in a way that dances around what your users really want.

• Focus on search intent research.
• Hire the best team for content and copywriting.

Author Bio: Asad Ali is a professional SEO expert with 7 years’ experience. He is working with a Dubai based company Go-Gulf and is currently working on the Web Development Riyadh segment.